The Fort Worth Press - Ukraine rejects Russian humanitarian corridors offer

USD -
AED 3.672704
AFN 70.432593
ALL 91.050584
AMD 390.569924
ANG 1.798032
AOA 912.000367
ARS 1063.861021
AUD 1.579779
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.70397
BAM 1.790616
BBD 2.014374
BDT 121.21767
BGN 1.790616
BHD 0.376104
BIF 2956.099794
BMD 1
BND 1.331563
BOB 6.894026
BRL 5.745604
BSD 0.997665
BTN 86.717327
BWP 13.592126
BYN 3.264912
BYR 19600
BZD 2.003937
CAD 1.43865
CDF 2876.000362
CHF 0.882751
CLF 0.024225
CLP 929.613184
CNY 7.23785
CNH 7.239504
COP 4115.44976
CRC 498.420691
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 100.952163
CZK 22.998504
DJF 177.651637
DKK 6.858404
DOP 62.732891
DZD 133.115129
EGP 50.468299
ERN 15
ETB 131.0374
EUR 0.91555
FJD 2.29104
FKP 0.77422
GBP 0.772648
GEL 2.77504
GGP 0.77422
GHS 15.463493
GIP 0.77422
GMD 72.000355
GNF 8627.1458
GTQ 7.691463
GYD 208.725109
HKD 7.772804
HNL 25.514305
HRK 6.925804
HTG 130.840009
HUF 367.030388
IDR 16328
ILS 3.646745
IMP 0.77422
INR 86.946504
IQD 1306.935225
IRR 42100.000352
ISK 134.460386
JEP 0.77422
JMD 156.237125
JOD 0.70904
JPY 148.63504
KES 129.192035
KGS 87.450384
KHR 3997.253376
KMF 451.850384
KPW 900.023485
KRW 1451.050383
KWD 0.30807
KYD 0.831403
KZT 499.995422
LAK 21611.352712
LBP 89388.784619
LKR 295.701534
LRD 199.523919
LSL 18.151705
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.80293
MAD 9.65539
MDL 17.753262
MGA 4651.865415
MKD 56.333257
MMK 2098.614161
MNT 3474.306106
MOP 7.986542
MRU 39.645686
MUR 45.150378
MVR 15.410378
MWK 1729.915312
MXN 19.929504
MYR 4.446504
MZN 63.903729
NAD 18.151705
NGN 1553.770377
NIO 36.713207
NOK 10.755555
NPR 138.747539
NZD 1.738375
OMR 0.38363
PAB 0.997665
PEN 3.659693
PGK 4.10071
PHP 57.322038
PKR 279.464591
PLN 3.819181
PYG 7921.263447
QAR 3.636164
RON 4.574304
RSD 107.310597
RUB 85.145342
RWF 1401.419089
SAR 3.737057
SBD 8.411149
SCR 14.325475
SDG 601.000339
SEK 10.129415
SGD 1.337504
SHP 0.785843
SLE 22.830371
SLL 20969.501083
SOS 570.19913
SRD 36.319038
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.729686
SYP 13002.287114
SZL 18.157931
THB 33.631038
TJS 10.874342
TMT 3.51
TND 3.082261
TOP 2.342104
TRY 36.482804
TTD 6.77409
TWD 32.941038
TZS 2653.696498
UAH 41.384665
UGX 3656.672007
UYU 42.517739
UZS 12922.865644
VES 64.106483
VND 25515
VUV 123.142646
WST 2.828788
XAF 600.555734
XAG 0.0296
XAU 0.000335
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.746899
XOF 600.555734
XPF 109.187457
YER 246.750363
ZAR 18.19963
ZMK 9001.203587
ZMW 28.557565
ZWL 321.999592
  • JRI

    0.0335

    12.83

    +0.26%

  • BCC

    2.9700

    99.35

    +2.99%

  • SCS

    0.2000

    10.99

    +1.82%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    39.49

    +0.66%

  • NGG

    0.8900

    63.21

    +1.41%

  • RIO

    1.8400

    63.04

    +2.92%

  • AZN

    1.0900

    77.6

    +1.4%

  • CMSD

    0.1500

    23.35

    +0.64%

  • CMSC

    0.0500

    23.22

    +0.22%

  • BTI

    -0.0200

    41.36

    -0.05%

  • RELX

    1.1200

    48.93

    +2.29%

  • RBGPF

    66.0200

    66.02

    +100%

  • BCE

    -0.1990

    23.47

    -0.85%

  • VOD

    0.0500

    9.55

    +0.52%

  • RYCEF

    0.0500

    10.4

    +0.48%

  • BP

    1.0200

    33.39

    +3.05%

Ukraine rejects Russian humanitarian corridors offer
Ukraine rejects Russian humanitarian corridors offer

Ukraine rejects Russian humanitarian corridors offer

Ukraine dismissed Moscow's offer to create humanitarian corridors from several bombarded cities on Monday after it emerged that exit routes would lead refugees into Russia or Belarus.

Text size:

The Russian proposal of safe passage for people from Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mariupol and Sumy came after terrified Ukrainian civilians came under fire in previous failed ceasefire attempts.

Violence raged 12 days into the war, even as a third round of peace negotiations was starting on Monday and the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers eyed talks in Turkey later this week.

The Russian invasion has pushed more than 1.5 million people across Ukraine's borders in what the UN calls Europe's fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II, and sparked fears of a wider conflict.

International sanctions intended to punish Moscow have done little to slow the invasion, and Washington said it was now discussing a ban on Russian oil imports with Europe.

Oil prices soared to near a 14-year high on the developments while stock markets plunged.

As international pressure mounted over horrifying scenes of civilians cut down while fleeing, Moscow's defence ministry announced plans for humanitarian corridors and said a "regime of silence" had started at 0700 GMT.

But several routes led into Russia or its ally Belarus, raising questions over the safety of those who might use them.

"This is not an acceptable option," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

Russia's negotiator at the peace talks, Vladimir Medinsky, in return accused Ukraine of the "war crime" of blocking the corridors.

Expectations remained low for the talks, which were due to begin at 1400 GMT on the Belarus-Poland border, and which Medinsky said would focus on evacuation routes.

- 'Moral cynicism' -

French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday, accused Putin of hypocrisy and cynicism over the offer.

"All this is not serious, it is moral and political cynicism, which I find intolerable," he told LCI television in an interview.

AFP journalists saw thousands of civilians early Monday fleeing the fighting via an unofficial humanitarian corridor in Irpin, a strategic suburb west of Kyiv.

"I am so happy to have managed to get out," said Olga, a 48-year-old woman leaving with her two dogs.

Children and the elderly were carried on carpets used as stretchers on the route, which leads over a makeshift bridge and then a single path secured by the army and volunteers.

Desperate people abandoned pushchairs and heavy suitcases to make sure they could get on the buses out of the war zone.

"We had no light at home, no light, no water, we just sat in the basement," Inna Scherbanyova, 54, an economist from Irpin, told AFP.

"Explosions were constantly going off... Near our house there are cars, there were dead people in one of them... very scary."

A day earlier a family of two adults and two children were killed by a shell as they tried to leave the war-torn area.

"They are monsters. Irpin is at war, Irpin has not surrendered," mayor Oleksandr Markushyn said on Telegram, adding that he had seen the family killed with his own eyes.

Two recent attempts to allow some 200,000 civilians to leave the besieged Azov Sea port of Mariupol have also ended in disaster.

Refugees trying to escape Mariupol using humanitarian corridors were left stranded as the road they were directed towards was mined, the ICRC said on Monday.

- 'Secure the skies' -

There was no let-up in the violence overnight into Monday, as outgunned Ukrainian forces, helped with military supplies from western countries, try to hold back Russian forces.

Air sirens sounded in cities across the country, and there was intense aerial bombardment in Ukraine's second city Kharkiv, which has endured almost non-stop fire in recent days.

"The enemy continues the offensive operation against Ukraine, focusing on the encirclement of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mykolayiv," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a statement.

The mayor of Gostomel, the town north of Kiev that is home to a crucial military airfield, was shot dead by Russian forces along with two other people while "distributing bread to the hungry and medicine to the sick," local officials said.

Nine bodies -- five civilians and four soldiers -- were found in the rubble of Vinnytsia airport in central Ukraine after it was destroyed in a Russian missile attack on Sunday, rescue services said.

Fears meanwhile rose that main port of Odessa, dubbed the "pearl of the Black Sea", was the next target of Russia's offensive in the south. Officials said Russia had shelled the village of Tuzly in the Odessa region from the sea, causing no injuries.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed calls for the West to boycott Russian exports, particularly oil, and to impose a no-fly zone to stop the carnage.

"How many more deaths and losses must it take to secure the skies over Ukraine?" he said in a video message.

Twelve days of fighting have killed hundreds of civilians and wounded thousands. An unending stream of people -- mostly women and children -- has poured into neighbouring countries, especially Poland.

Western allies have imposed unprecedented sanctions against businesses, banks and billionaires in a bid to choke the Russian economy and pressure Moscow to halt its assault.

- 'Neutralisation' of Ukraine -

But Putin has equated global sanctions with a declaration of war, put nuclear forces on alert and warned that Kyiv is "putting in question the future of Ukrainian statehood" by continuing to resist.

Moscow has been forced to restrict sales of essential goods to limit black-market speculation, while on Sunday payment giant American Express halted operations there, a day after Visa and MasterCard announced similar steps.

Streaming giant Netflix suspended its service in Russia while social media titan TikTok halted the posting of new videos from Russia.

Despite harsh punishments for those voicing dissent, protests in Russia against the Ukraine invasion have continued, with more than 10,000 people arrested since it began.

Putin has pledged the "neutralisation" of Ukraine "either through negotiation or through war".

Sputtering diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict continue with the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia and Turkey set to meet in southern Turkey on Thursday, Ankara said.

China said on Monday it was open to helping to mediate peace, but stressed that the friendship between close allies Beijing and Moscow remained "rock solid".

The International Court of Justice meanwhile heard Ukraine's appeal for it to order Russia to halt the fighting, but Moscow declined to attend the sitting of the UN's top court, in The Hague.

NATO allies have so far rebuffed Ukraine's calls for a no-fly zone, with one senior US senator, Marco Rubio, saying Sunday that it could lead to "World War III" against nuclear-armed Russia.

Kyiv has urged the West to boost its military assistance, with Zelensky pleading for Russian-made planes that his pilots are trained to fly.

C.M.Harper--TFWP